Cybersecurity is the practice of protecting networks, devices, and data from unauthorized access or criminal use. It involves the art of ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information and systems. This field aims to protect systems, networks, and programs from digital attacks, which are typically targeted at gaining unauthorized access or making unauthorized changes to sensitive information.

The Three Pillars of Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity aims to ensure the:

• Confidentiality of data - only authorized users can access the data.

• The integrity of data - the data has not been altered or compromised.

• Availability of networks and systems - they are accessible when needed.

Common Cybersecurity Threats

Some common cyber threats include:

• Phishing - Fraudulent emails or messages designed to steal information. Phishing attacks aim to get sensitive information like usernames, passwords, and credit card details by pretending to be someone you trust. Phishing emails often contain malicious attachments or links that install malware once opened.

• Malware - Malicious software like viruses, ransomware or spyware. Malware refers to any malicious software designed to damage or disrupt a system. Malware is one of the most common cyber threats organizations face. It attacks can infect systems through phishing emails, malicious websites, and USB drives.

• Social engineering - Manipulating people into revealing sensitive information.

• Code Injection and SQL Injection Attacks - Code injection attacks involve inserting code into a web form to interact with the database by executing arbitrary commands. This is usually done to steal or modify data.

  This enables attackers to read sensitive data from the database.

• Data breaches - Unauthorized access to sensitive data

Penetration Testing Stages

Penetration testing, also known as ethical hacking, is an approach to identifying and addressing security vulnerabilities in a system or network. Here are the common phases of a penetration test:

1. Reconnaissance

   This phase involves gathering information about the target system. It can be done actively by directly interacting with the system or passively by using publicly available information.

   • Objective: Gather as much information as possible about the target system or network.

   • Activities: Use open-source intelligence (OSINT), DNS queries, network scans, and social engineering techniques to collect information about the target.

2. Scanning

   In this phase, tools are used to identify open ports, network services and vulnerabilities in the target system.

   • Objective: Identify live hosts, open ports, and services running on the target system.

   • Activities: Conduct port scanning, service version detection, and network mapping to create a blueprint of the target environment.

3. Gaining Acces

   The vulnerabilities identified during scanning are assessed to determine if they can be exploited.

   • Objective: Exploit vulnerabilities to gain unauthorized access to the target system.

   • Activities: Attempt to exploit known vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, or weaknesses in the system's defenses. This phase may involve the use of malware, exploits, or social engineering. It can be use with tools like Metasploit, nmap, Burp Suite and others.

4. Maintaining Acces

   This stage aims to see if the vulnerability can be used to achieve a persistent presence in the exploited system long enough for a bad actor to gain in-depth access.

   • Objective: Establish a persistent presence in the target environment.

   • Activities: Create backdoors, establish remote access, or exploit vulnerabilities that allow for continued access to the system even after the initial penetration.

5. Analysis (post-exploitation)

   • Objective: Evaluate the impact of the successful exploits and identify potential areas for further exploitation.

   • Activities: Review the compromised system for sensitive data, assess the effectiveness of security controls, and gather information for the final report.

Conclusion

In conclusion, analyzing the collected information in cybersecurity means organizing, examining, and understanding the data to find vulnerabilities, threats, and risks. This analysis helps improve overall security and implement effective measures to protect computer systems, networks, and data from unauthorized access or malicious activities.

Stay tuned for our upcoming articles, where we'll dive into the tools and resources essential for understanding hacking. I'll share the tools and methods I've learned for penetration tests.